ANY RN's WANTING TO BE MD's

RNperdiem, RN · Feb 28, 2008

I was a premed in college. I didn't get in and switched to nursing. I have been a satisfied nurse for 10 years now.

What I now know about medicine from being a nurse and having a brother in med school, I am glad I avoided medicine. I have a life with free time and no debt.

Journey_On, BSN, RN · Feb 28, 2008

I am not an RN yet, but I was on the pre-med track in college. I didn't do all the pre-requisites, but here are the ones I did take:

- General Chemistry 1 & General Chemistry 1 Lab

- Calculus 1

- Biology 1 & Biology 1 Lab

- 2 English courses

Thank goodness I did not start Organic Chemistry or Physics. After my 1st year of undergrad, I decided that I did not want to pursue the pre-med track. It was a hard to decision to make because I was so sure that I wanted to go into medicine. College was just way different than I thought, and I was also thinking of my future and what I wanted.

I am very happy and excited to be pursuing nursing instead.

jessiern, BSN, RN · Feb 28, 2008

We used to have a doctor in town that started as an LPN. And she was good. Very good. Initially that is what i wanted to do, but my initial plans when I started didn't involve a husband and family. But, I think I will be happier this way.

Ibsen0006 · Feb 28, 2008

I guess I should have worded my question differently. I am happy to hear that both of you enjoy being a nurse. It is truly a flexible and rewarding career. But what I meant to ask was, are there any RN's who have been RN's for a while who have decided to go back to Medical School?

CHATSDALE · Feb 28, 2008

i worked with a rn who wanted to go back to school to be an md but in the end switched to nurse anesthesist mainly due to familly concerns

it can be done, but like a lot of things it isn't going to be easy

ohmeowzer RN, RN · Feb 28, 2008

i'm a RN and my brotherinlaw is a dr ( my sis is a RN her husband is the doc ) and i see my brotherin law working long hours and i would never be a MD, DO or anything.. i do my time and leave work.. doctors are called all the time and it's never ending... no thanks

snowfreeze, BSN, RN · Feb 28, 2008

I have considered being a rural doctor a couple times, I would like that. I never had the time or money to further my schooling though, 3 kids and a divorce kinda drained my time and finances for the last 16 years.

Suninmyheart · Feb 28, 2008

No way! All those hours and money?

I did want to be a Veterinarian though and did almost ALL of the prereqs - even a year of organic chemistry. I never did apply due to circumstances.

But if I wasn't a nurse (which I love) I would still want to be a vet. :uhoh21:

go figure....

jjjoy, LPN · Feb 28, 2008

There was a thread on here regarding an accel BSN student who realized he wasn't satisfied with what he was learning in nursing school, struggled with the question of what to do, dropped out and just recently was accepted to med school.

On the Nurse Practioner discussion board here, there are often references to RNs who decide to go to a PA program instead of NP.

For those who went straight for RN, the pre-reqs are so different that academically the RN has to start over almost completely. And even if the RN had previously taken pre-med courses, they're only usually good for five years. So by the time the nurse has finished nursing school and worked a few years... again, back to square one academically. It makes going the NP route MUCH more appealing.

One might think there'd be more pre-meds considering an undergrad degree in nursing before applying to med school, but the coursework for a degree in biology more closely matches med school pre-reqs than the coursework required for nursing. It would likely to take an extra two years to earn a degree in nursing & complete med school pre-reqs than just earning a degree in biology which generally matches med school pre-reqs.

So overall you probably won't find too many RN-MDs out there. I've heard of a few out there but never met one myself.

birdgardner · Feb 28, 2008

My m-i-l was a nurse and midwife in England. She started taking the med school pre-reqs here in the US at night when her children were small and med school when they were in grade school. She was a good doctor with excellent diagnostic skills, but the sad thing is, she only took care of patients for about 7 years before she decided that the insurance companies were destroying medicine - and went to work for an insurance company.

showbizrn · Feb 28, 2008

no

nope

no-sir-ree.

never wanted

my initials

to end "m.d."

:nono: